Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-19
/ have music at the start. This world,
which began with
so SWEET A SERENADE


is finally to be demolished amidst the
ringing blasts of the archangel's trumpet,
so inst IS there was music az the start,
there shall be music st the close. While
this heavenly art has often been dragged
into the uses of superstition and dissips-
ton, we all know II may be the means Of
high moral culture. Oh, it is grand
thing to have our children brought up
amidstithe sound of cultured voices and
amidst the melody Of musical instru-
ments. There is in this art sn indescrib-
able fascination for the household. Let
all those families who have the means to
afford it, have flute or harp, or piano or
organ. As soon as the hand is large
enough to compass the keys, teach it how
to pick out the melody. Let all our
young men try this heavenly art upon
their nsture. Those who have gone into
it fully have found in it illimitable recres-
ton and amusement. Dark days, stormy
nights, seasons of sickness, business dis
asters, will do little toward depressing
the soul which can gsllop off over mu-
steal keys or soar in iubilsnt lay.
1t will cure pain. It will rest
fatigue. Il will quell passion. 1t will
revive health. 1t will reclaim dissipation.
1t will strengthen the immortal soul. In
the battle OF Waterloo, wellington saw
that the Highlanders were falling back.
He said: "Whst is the matter, there?"
He was told that the band of music had
ceased playing, and he called up the
pipers and ordered them to strike up an
inspiriting sir; and no sooner did they
strike the air than the Highlanders were
rallied, and helped to win the day. Oh,
Ye who have been routed in the conflicts
of life, try by the force of music to rally
your scattered 0attelions.
am glad to know that in our great
cities there is hardly night in which
there are not concerts where, with the
best musical instruments and the sweet
est voices, people may find entertainment.
PatroniZe such entertainments when they
are offered you. Buy season tickets, if
you can, for the philharmonic" and the
"Hendel and Haydn" societies. Feel
that the dollar and a half or two dollars
that you spend for the purpose of hearing
an artist play or sing is q profitable in
.vestment. Let your Steinway Halls and
your Academies of Music roar with the
reclamation of appreciative audiences
assembled at the concert or the oratorio.
Still farther: | commend, as worthy
of their support, the gymnasium. This
institution is gaining in favor every year,
and l know of nothing more free from
dissipation, or more calculated to recup-
crate the physical and mental energies.
While there are good many people who
have employed this institution, there is a
vsst number who are ignorant of its ex-
cellences. There are men with cramped
chests and weak sides and respondent
spirits who through the gymnasium
might be reused up to exuberance and
exhilaration of life. There are many
Christian people respondent from year to
year, who might, through such an insti-
tuition, be benefited in their spiritual re-
lations. There are Christian people VINO
seem to think that it is good sign to be
poorly; and because Richard Baxter and
Robert Hall were invalids, they think
that by the same sickness they may
come to the same grandeur of character
1 want 10 tell the Christian people of my
congregation that God will hold you re-
sponsible for your invalidism if
IT Is YOUR FAULT,
and when through right exercise and
prudence you might be athletic es well.
The effect of the body upon the soul you
acknowledge. Put q man of mild dis
position upon the animal diet of which
the Indian partakes, and in little while
his blood will change its chemical pro-
portions. It will become like unto the
blood Of the lion or the tiger or the bear,
while his disposition will change, and be-
come fierce, cruel, and unrelenting. The
body has q powerful effect upon the soul.
There are good people whose ideas of
heaven are all shut out with clouds of
tobacco smoke. There are people who
dare to shatter the physical vase in
which God has put the Jewel of eternity.
There are men with great hearts and in
tellects in bodies worn out by their own
neglects-magnitcent machinery capable
of propellipg Crest Eastern scross the
Atlantic, yet fastened in rickety North
river propeller Martin Luther was so
mighty for God first, because he had
noble soul, and secondly, because he had
muscular development which would
have enabled him TO thrash any five of
his prosecutors, II it had been Christian
so TO do. Physical development which
merely shows itself in fabulous lifting, or
In perilous rope walking, or in q pugilis-
tic encounter, excites only our contempt;
but we confess to great admiration for
the man who has great.soul in an ath-
letic body-every nerve, muscle and bone
of which is consecrated to right uses
Oh, 1t seems to me outrageous that
men through neglect fhould allow their
physical health to go down beyond repair
A ship which ought with all sail set and
every man ct his pest to be carrying 8
rich cargo for eternity, employing all its
men in stopping up leakages! When yoz
may through the gymnasium work off
your spleen and your querulousness and
one-half of your physical and mental all
ments, do not turn your back upon such
grand medicament.
Still further: l commend to you q
large class of parlor games and recres
tons. There is g way OF making our
homes hundred-fold more attractive
than they are now. Those parents con-
not expect to keep their children away
from outside designations unless they
make the domestic circle brighter than
anything they can find outside of it. Do
MOI, then, sit in your home surly and
unsympathetic and with half condemn
story look because of the sportfulness of
your children. You were young once
yourself; let your children be young
Because your eyes are dim and your
ankles are stiff do not denounce sportful-